Step 16: Enjoy!

Step 14: Ladder

The plan was to use a rope ladder to get up, but my 4 year old struggled with the transition to the platform, even though he could climb it just fine. So we vetoed it, even after making a pretty nice ladder. I leaned a couple of 2×4s against the entryway, cut the angle, and nailed on two thicknesses of cedar board all the way up. The plan was to put climbing holds up a wall, but I ended up just cutting foot/handholds instead. I'd like to say this was free, but I wore out a big spade bit cutting the holes - it got too hot, and bent. This job was easy if a little time consuming to do - mark and drill two big holes, mark a line between them at the bottom and an arc at the top (I used a plastic bucket) and cut out with a jigsaw. This had really rough edges, so I rounded them off with my little router. That worked great, so I went around quite a few other edges on the treehouse with it. Smooth!

How did the tree react to the galvanized bolts through the trunks? Did it display any indications of health issues or weakening? I imagine I'd have used stainless bolts instead.<br>Great treehouse!

<p>Just fine. Here's a photo of one of the holes after I removed the 1/2&quot; lag screw when I took down the treehouse after 4 years. No sign of disease or damage; just some squishing of the bark when it couldn't grow any further.</p>

That looks good, thanks :-)

<p>Great guide, we are about to start our build this weekend and some of the information as been very useful. My biggest worry is getting the flat joists to lay against one trunk and out to another branch to provide the required base boards for the build. I think some wooden chunks inbetween tree and board might fix this. Oh well let's hope the weather holds, or the kids will go nuts.</p>

<p>Thanks. If you add end pieces to the main supports, they form a box and should allow you to avoid the blocks (which might damage the tree during movement). Best of luck with the build.</p>

<p>Do you know the (if any) size limits of this kind of construction?</p><p>Great ible btw</p>

<p>Thanks. It's going to depend a lot on the tree. If you have a couple of big trunks, it would be easier to make it bigger. But you will also have to scale up your fasteners.</p>

<p>thank you great inspiration for my tree house which has been destroyed in a storm so needs to be rebuild </p>

<p>welcome. Good luck with the rebuild</p>

Thanks good luck with yours

<p>Looks great! Definitely using this as a guide for next summers treehouse project. I had one question, why are the decking boards on the entryway flush with the top of the supports, as oped to being laid on top of them like regular decking?</p>

<p>(sorry about the slow reply) Good question. 1) it made the step up to the treehouse what felt to me to be the right size and 2) it was no more difficult to build.</p>

<p>thank you great inspiration for my tree house which has been destroyed in a storm so needs to be rebuild </p>

<p>thank you great inspiration for my tree house which has been destroyed in a storm so needs to be rebuild </p>

<p>thank you great inspiration for my tree house which has been destroyed in a storm so needs to be rebuild </p>

<p>thank you great inspiration for my tree house which has been destroyed in a storm so needs to be rebuild </p>

<p>thank you great inspiration for my tree house which has been destroyed in a storm so needs to be rebuild </p>

<p>Hi nice instructions but I am not clear on how you got the Tarp around the trees? Did you cut holes in the tarp? I have a similar spot with three tree trunks very close together but they petty much go striaght up and I can't figure out how the tarp will work. More pictures may help.</p>

<p>These trees splay outwards so they are separated almost by the width of the treehouse at the height of the top of the tarp. If your trunks stay close together, yeah, you will need to cut holes in the tarp.</p>

<p>super awesome. I would have installed supporting beams from the ground to the base of the house, instead of putting on the weight on the trees. I never built a tree house though so I don't know what I'm talking about. Excellent work.</p>

<p>Thanks. What you describe is not a treehouse, it is a house on stilts next to a tree. Remember that digging holes next to a tree will cut through roots... which is probably worse for the tree than putting a few small holes in it. If you want to build something like what you describe, I recommend seamster's <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Backyard-Fort/">Backyard Fort</a>.</p>

<p>Great job. I am getting started and your design looks like the best I have seen for my situation. In looking at your list of materials, you list 3-3/4&quot; diameter x 10&quot; long lag screws. Should the quantity be 4 instead of 3? How are you attaching the 2 x 8 to the other side of the tree trunk that has a 2 x 8 on both sides? Of course, the next question would be if you did add a lag screw where I am talking about, how do you keep that lag screw from interfering with the lag screw that attaches the other 2 x 8?</p>

<p>The 3 10&quot; long ones were used for the 2 trees at one end and for the braces. The 2 8&quot; screws were used on the single tree. Remember that these have to go through the 2 x 8 and leave some room for growth, so in the treehouse shown each of these penetrate the 12&quot; trunk about 5 1/2&quot; only. If your tree is smaller, you could simply offset the lag screws slightly in height. Good luck with the build.</p>

Thanks! Sorry, I thought the 2-8&quot; screws were to be used on the 2 x 4 diagonals. What is your opinion on 5/8&quot; diameter lag screws instead of 3/4&quot;? So far 5/8&quot; is the largest size I can buy individually.

<p>Well, this treehouse survived for 4 years just fine with 1/2&quot; lag screws, but these trees grow slowly and don't move much in wind. Fastenal.com has the 3/4&quot; ones available online.</p>

<p>do you know what property class have these lag screws? so I can know their resistance...</p>

<p>One other thing to note is...what kind of tree you are building this on? Pine and poplar trees are very soft and may lose the lag screws. Oak, hickory, ash and elm are much sturdier and will be structurally more sound. Look into what kind of trees you will be dealing with. Looks like fun. </p>

<p>Oak (see step 1)</p>

<p>Excellent work!</p>

<p>The only issue is that having the house attached to the tree it will always break in time. Trees are always growing and moving wiht the wheather. Google and find tecnhiques that will leave a treehouse free from the tree and lasting longer.</p>

<p>Of course, which is why this instructable contains information on how to mitigate these effects. If you're looking for a house on stilts that you can put near a tree, I recommend seamster's <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Backyard-Fort/" rel="nofollow">Backyard Fort</a>.</p>

<p>dreams come true:-)</p>

<p>Nice!!!!</p>

<p>nice </p>

<p>nice </p>

<p>nice </p>

<p>nice </p>

<p>i will play in thayre :)</p>

<p>Thanks, this is one of the best tree house instructables out there. I'm my first tree house deep in the forest where I have to hike all the materials in so I'm trying to do as much reading as I can before hand. I'm curious how your tree growth has impacted you design and if you would have made any changes because of that? I'm putting short galvanized pipe on my main bolts to make a sizeable gap between the tree and the frame of the tree house.</p>

<p>Ha, funny you asked; the tree has just grown to the point where I'm right now (well, on weekends) in the process of taking it down. I'm going to put it back up using bigger bolts (probably 1&quot;) and perch the treefort supports a little further away to give it more room to grow (see my commentary at the end of step 4). I'm not sure why you're adding the pipe, though - it won't help the strength any - or are you putting the supports on TOP of the pipe to allow movement at one end?</p>

I read about the pipe method in one of Pete Nelson's books, it basically serves the same purpose as a big stack of washers or the collar of a tree house attachment bolt. I'm probably not describing it well, if it all works I will post an instructable.

<p>Look forward to seeing it.</p>

<p>Thanks so much! I had already started all wrong and after seeing yours with the 2x10 underneath and freeing the 2x8 from the tree movement I was able to do a quick fix to make mine much sturdy. Thanks.</p>

Thanks for you insight. I used your plans as a source. Although my treefort does not resemble yours on the outside, it does have some similarity. <br> <br>Here is a link to my Treefort: http://kurt-zeppetello.blogspot.com/2013/08/tree-house-or-fort-construction.html <br>

Nice job, it looks great. You should consider writing it up as instructable (you've done all the work already!) and entering it in the Fort contest on right now.